ENSO Drove 2500-Year Collapse of Eastern Pacific Coral Reefs

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 337; no. 6090; pp. 81 - 84
• Main Authors: Toth, Lauren T., Aronson, Richard B., Vollmer, Steven V., Hobbs, Jennifer W., Urrego, Dunia H., Cheng, Hai, Enochs, Ian C., Combosch, David J., van Woesik, Robert, Macintyre, Ian G.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Association for the Advancement of Science 06.07.2012; The American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Subjects: Acidification; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Animals; Anthozoa - growth & development; Applied ecology; Aquatic ecosystems; Biological and medical sciences; Climate Change; Climate models; Climatology. Bioclimatology. Climate change; Collapse; Conservation, protection and management of environment and wildlife; Coral Reefs; Corals; Earth, ocean, space; Ecosystems; El Nino; El Nino-Southern Oscillation; Environmental degradation: ecosystems survey and restoration; Exact sciences and technology; External geophysics; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Geologic Sediments; Global warming; La Nina; Meteorology; Ocean currents; Oceans; Pacific Ocean; Paleoclimatology; Panama; Reefs; Southern oscillation; Time; Upwelling water; East Pacific; Pacific Ocean; Panama; IE, Pacific; I, Pacific; ASW, Central America; ISE, Panama; Ecological damage; marine environment; El Nino; warming; Intertropical convergence zone; reefs; Environmental monitoring; Population decline; climate change
• ISSN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.1221168

Cores of coral reef frameworks along an upwelling gradient in Panamá show that reef ecosystems in the tropical eastern Pacific collapsed for 2500 years, representing as much as 40% of their history, beginning about 4000 years ago. The principal cause of this millennial-scale hiatus in reef growth was increased variability of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and its coupling with the Intertropical Convergence Zone. The hiatus was a Pacific-wide phenomenon with an underlying climatology similar to probable scenarios for the next century. Global climate change is probably driving eastern Pacific reefs toward another regional collapse.